One of my biggest influences as a child in music class was the Halloween season playing of the classical piece The Danse Macabre! The danse of the skeletons, ghosts and witches! I was a child in the 1960s and Danse Macabre was always a Holiday treat!

All Souls Night by Lorenna McKennit (a really nice change of pace from the more rock sound)Bad Moon Rising by Credence Clearwater Revival Fur by Blitzen Trapping (think werewolves done in the style Arlo Guthry) Hellraiser by Tom Smith (a Hellraiser filk) PQR by Tom Smith (a Nightbreed filk) I Guess It Doesn't Matter Anymore by Blackmore's Night (a song about picking up the vanishing hitchhiker) The Cask of Amontillado by Alan Parson Project (there first album was based entirely on the works of Edgar Allan Poe) The Devil Went Down to Georgia by Charlie Daniels Band Legend of Wooly Swamp by Charlie Daniels Band (which I think is the better song) Dead Man's Party by Oingo Boingo No One Lives Forever by Oingo Boingo Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult Cry Little Sister by Gerald McMann Lost in the Shadows by Lou GrahamMoon Over Bourbon Street by StingBedlam Boys by Steeleye Span (quasi Renaissance music) Somebody's Following Me by Steeleye Span Thriller by Micheal Jackson (cliche, I know, but I love it) Don't Pay the Ferryman by Chris DeBurg Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon Of Wolf and Man by Metallica

Just a sampling of the truly strange taste in music I have.

We're the farmer's scarecrows We scare away the birds,We keep the farmer's corn safeWithout any words.But when Halloween comesWe jump out of the groundAnd we scare the boys and girlsWhen they come walking 'round.

We're the farmer's scarecrows We scare away the birds,We keep the farmer's corn safeWithout any words.But when Halloween comesWe jump out of the groundAnd we scare the boys and girlsWhen they come walking 'round.

Thriller - Michael Jackson (Scarecrow Jack is right. This is really cliche. But if it's on my iPod it would be a crime not to add it.)

The Number Of The Beast - Iron Maiden

Day Of The Dead - Captain Clegg And The Night Creatures

Beetlejuice Theme Song - Danny Elfman

A Formidable Marinade - Mikelangelo And The Black Sea Gentlemen

Meet The Creeper - Rob Zombie

The Devil Went Down To Georgia - The Charlie Daniels Band

Dance Of Death - Iron Maiden

Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) - Marilyn Manson

Book Of Shadows - Coven 13

Monster Mash (Also a cliche but awesome.) - The Misfits

The Great American Nightmare - Rob Zombie

Fallen Grandeur - Midnight Syndicate

You And Me And The Devil Makes Three - Marilyn Manson

Technological Terror - DJ Duro

Don't Laugh - Josh Wink

Evisceration Plague - Cannibal Corpse

The Golden Age Of Grotesque - Marilyn Manson

Fear Of The Dark - Iron Maiden

Necronomicon - Nox Arcana

Kidnap The Sandy Claws - Korn

Blood - My Chemical Romance

Enter Sandman - Metallica

House Of A Thousand Corpses - Rob Zombie

Monster Mash - Bobby "Boris" Pickett

Ghoul Hunter - Ghoul

Toccata And Fugue In D Minor - Tom Rossi Remix

In The Hall Of The Mountain King - Epica

Maybe some of these don't belong in a Halloween music list. I chose some songs based names and/or lyrics, or just if they sounded dark and creepy enough, or if they're just known as Halloween songs if they didn't really have a Halloween or horror theme.

Halloween wraps fear in innocence,As though it were a slightly sour sweet.Let terror, then, be turned into a treat...~Nicholas Gordon

Those are some really cool music choices, RDM. I have some of the Midnight Syndicate and Nox Arcana CDs. By Midnight Syndicate I have, Born of the Night, Realm of Shadows, The 13th Hour, Dungeons and Dragons, and Carnival Arcane. Though I was disappointed with Carnival Arcane. My favorite by them was Born of the Night and after that it's been diminishing returns. I've liked all of them up to Carnival Arcane, but none of them seems to be to be as good as Born of the Night.

By Nox Arcana I have Darkore Manor, Carnival of Lost Souls (which I enjoyed more than Carnival Arcane), Phantoms of the High Seas, and Winter's Knight. On the whole I like their stuff a little better than Midnight Syndicate's stuff after Vargo left, but still think Born of the Night is the best of this lot. IMHO.

We're the farmer's scarecrows We scare away the birds,We keep the farmer's corn safeWithout any words.But when Halloween comesWe jump out of the groundAnd we scare the boys and girlsWhen they come walking 'round.

I will say the great thing about YouTube is finding new music. If I see a song/band I don't know I'll check them out on YouTube. It's how I found Abney Park. (They don't do anything Halloween related that I'm aware of, but it's my best find so far.)

We're the farmer's scarecrows We scare away the birds,We keep the farmer's corn safeWithout any words.But when Halloween comesWe jump out of the groundAnd we scare the boys and girlsWhen they come walking 'round.

I think that ambient music sounds creepy enough for a Halloween party. I played a couple of Fever Ray songs last year and they created a proper atmosphere (check them out if you want http://wowmp3.net/music/fever-ray-mp3.html)

Follow this link to find an ORIGINAL Halloween song that would fit right in a Tim Burton movie. http://www.stevecapmusic.com/tombstones/I would love to have it posted somewhere on this site. If anyone has an idea of where else to post the song please let me know. By the way - once your there you might enjoy some of the other music there as well. I know - shameless self promotion. Oh well, somebody's got to do it. Happy Halloween to you all!